Senior Vice President, NBA Orlando Magic, Co-founded team in 1987 and helped lead to NBA finals in 1995
Served in the NBA as general manager for Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia teams, including the 1983 World Champion 76ers
Motivational speaker
Radio host
Featured in Sports Illustrated, Readers Digest, and others
Completed 50 marathons in the past 13 years, including the Boston Marathon 12 times
Bachelors degree at Wake Forest Univ.; Master’s degree at Indiana Univ.; Doctorate in Humane Letters from Flagler Univ
Married to Ruth
Father of 19 children, 4 birth kids, 14 by international adoption and 1 by remarriage
8 grandchildren
Guest
Pat Williams: Coach Wooden's Principles of Success
FEBRUARY PRESS CONFERENCE
As basketball’s March Madness culminates this week in Houston at the Final Four, Pat Williams stays as busy as ever. He has written a second book on the man who has been called the greatest coach of all time, the late John Wooden.
During a press conference before the March Madness season, it was revealed that Pat has a rare form of bone cancer, multiple myeloma. Even with this news, he remains positive and optimistic.
Pat was even asked by a reporter about the new Coach Wooden book and the advice Coach Wooden would give him. Pat replied, “Coach Wooden would look at me and say in a soft-spoken voice: ‘Pat, even though it’s not the way you planned it and even though you might not feel 100 percent, make each day your masterpiece.” Pat explains that this helps to live a perfect day today with the Lord’s help and reach out to others…one day at a time.
Pat says the wisdom of Coach Wooden has helped him and so many others throughout the years. As a basketball coach for UCLA, Coach had an excellent track record. He gained visibility when his team won seven national championships in a row and they continued to stand out. He was listed as the greatest coach and a wonderful human being. Coach served others his whole life. Pat says Coach Wooden was successful throughout his life because he had consistency.
MORE COACH WOODEN
Pat had written a book on Coach Wooden a few years ago, How to be like Coach Wooden. Out of this project came his friendship with Coach Wooden. After spending time with him, Pat wanted to be more like Coach. Coach Wooden’s life and sayings have been a part of Pat’s everyday life.
Pat also came to admire Coach’s father, Joshua Hugh Wooden, who passed his wisdom on to Coach. Coach’s father was a key person in his life. Even as a 90-year-old man, Coach bragged about his father.
Pat found that Coach Wooden was given a 7 point creed by his father Joshua Hugh Wooden when he was twelve-years-old. Coach lived by it, referred to it and even passed it out on cards throughout his life to everyone he knew. These points were foundational in Coach’s life. However, though many people knew about these 7 points they were never expounded upon. Pat decided he would write this book and try to have it completed for Coach’s 100th birthday on October 14, 2010 as a surprise gift. However, Coach died on June 4, 2010, a few months before his birthday. This book is a belated surprise gift for the late Coach Wooden.
THE SEVEN PRINCIPLES
Here are the seven principles Coach Wooden’s father gave him:
* Be true to yourself
* Help others
* Make friendship a fine art
* Drink deeply from good books, especially the Bible
* Make each day your masterpiece
* Build a shelter against a rainy day by the life you live
* Give thanks for your blessings and pray for guidance every day
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